Ringo by Lorne Greene
Artist: Lorne Greene Weeks at #1: 1 week Chart dates: December 5, 1964
About
"Ringo" is a popular song written by Don Robertson and Hal Blair. It was a hit single for Canadian-born actor Lorne Greene in 1964. It reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on December 5, 1964, as well as garnering the same spot on the Easy Listening chart, where it retained the position for six weeks. The single also peaked at number 21 on the Hot Country Singles chart. In Canada, it hit number one on the RPM top singles chart on December 7, 1964. At The beginning of 1965 it peaked at #1 on The New Zealand Lever Hit parade. The song's sole sung lyric is performed by a male chorus while the verses are a spoken-word, first-person account of a Western lawman and his friendship with a notorious gunfighter, known only as Ringo. Greene described the song as about "Johnny Ringo the outlaw", though the account in the song differs from Ringo's life. The song's spoken word format (with a chorus intoning the title of the song) had been used to great effect in 1961 for Jimmy Dean's hit single, "Big Bad John".
